The A Capella Girls and the “Forum”

During the second lockdown I and my colleague Lena Sutor-Wernich initiated a “Forum” – a digital space for exchange and conversations about art, the pandemic, audience development, the function and responisibilities of art in society, change management and what ever topics the colleagues who joined us brought up.
For the past six months the group of nine has met digitally every second week, sometimes even weekly when the need and wish for it was big enough. It has been such a humbling journey to learn to know colleagues like that and over all a very enriching and developing process for me.

At one point in our talks the wish grew to actually “do something”, something that is possible to do under most restrictions and yet would bring music and joy to the people. A work group was created and the A Capella Girls were born. All singers at Staatstheater Darmstadt were invited to join and 10 women signed up and went out to do several “Pop Up Concerts” all over Darmstadt during the month of June.

We sang at day care centers, old people’s homes, in parks, on the streets and in some natural reserves. We learned to know each other a little better after months of social isolation and we met a lot of people.

It was one of those projects I end up being very proud of even if I was only a participant in this case.